Blade sharpener



Patented Apr. 15, 1930 PATENT OFFICE SAMUEL M. WIXCEL, or MARCUS, IOWA BLADE SHARPENER Application filed March 18, 1929. Serial No. 347,971.

The invention primarily has for its object to provide a novel, simple and economically constructed blade sharpener capable of being hand held and drawn along the cutting edge of a lawn mowerblade or the like for the purpose of Sharpening the same;

In its more detailed nature the invention resides in the provision of a novel handle forming and abrading element clamping member, and a novel sharpening element carried by the said member, the said member having a grooveway in which the said element is securely clamped, and a guide flange, the sharpening surface of the said element being so formed as to cause the blade being sharpened to bear against the guide and assure uniform sharpening of the blade at the proper bevel angle.

Another object is to provide a handle and clamping member so constructed as to permit the forming thereof from a single rectangular sheet of spring metal. The member is shaped to form a handle or grip portion, a sharpening element receiving groove for receivingand clamping a sharpening element square in cross section, and an extended guide flange which is so positioned relatively to the groove forming portion of the member as to provide for exposing less than half of any given face of the sharpening element at a given time.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel means to clamp the sharpening element in position on the handle and clamping member.

Other objects will in part be obvious and in part be pointed out hereinafter.

To the attainment of the aforesaid objects and ends, the invention still further resides in the novel details of construction, combination and arrangement of parts, all of which will be first fully described in the following detailed description, then be particularly pointed out in the appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, in which Figures 1 and 2 are perspective views of the invention and illustrate the respective sides of the same.

Figure 3 is an end view of the invention, the same being shown in use.

Figure 4 is an inverted plan view. t Figure 5 is a plan view illustrating the blank from which the handle and clamping member may be shaped up.

Figure 6 is a perspective view of the sharp ening element. i

In the drawing, 1 designates the sharpeningelement which is clamped in the handle and clamping member and which is adapted 1 to be drawn-over the edge of the blade to be sharpened for the purpose of renewing the edge thereof. This element is disclosed in detail in Figure 6 of the drawing from which it will be observed that it is square in cross section and has its four faces provided with special single cut milling and undercut formed sharpening spurs all directed in a single direction and at the same angle. These single direction sharpening spurs are indicated at 2 and the purpose for forming the spurs in the peculiar manner shown, in preference to the usual double cut conventional square file arrangement, will be explained 7 hereinafter. i

The handle and clamping member is preferably formed from a blank of spring metal such as is show'n in Figure 5 of the drawing and is shaped up to include a sharpening ele ment receiving groove 3 formed by the rear wall 4, the upper wall 5 and the lower half wall 6 and suitable handleand clamping portions that will be described hereinafter.

The lower wall 6 is bent downwardly at an angle to provide anextended guide flange 7 and it will be observed that the said lower wall extends just far enough to expose half, or slightly less'than half, of the lower abrasive'face of the elementl as indicated at 8. 96

After forming the upper wall 5 the metal isbent upwardly substantially at right anglesto the said wall, as at 9, to provide a fin-. ger grooveway 10 and is then bent upon itself in a curved open loop forming a handle portion 11 and a clamping body 12 opposed to the finger grooveway forming wall in spaced relation. Toward its lower endthe wall 12 is bent inwardly at a slight angle to provide aclamping edge 13 opposed to the groove- 100 way 3 and adapted to engage the sharpening element mounted in that groove.

The Walls 4 and 12 are apertured as at 14 to receive a clamping bolt 15 by which the edge 13 may be securely forced against the element 1 to hold it in its groove.

The handle and clamping membershaped as herein described and shown in the drawing is not only simple in its construction and economical to manufacture but it is so shaped as to enable the gripping thereof'in a comfortable and secure manner overcoming tendencies to cramp the hand or for the device to slip While in use.

It will be observed that the guide flange 7 bears angular relation to the rear wall 4; of the grooveway 3 so as to form, with the active exposed face 8 of the sharpening element 1, a slightly acute angle such as will assure the formation of the desired bevel commonly formed on the blades of lawn mowers. It will also be observed that in forming the flange 7 by bending down the extension from the lower wall 6 a rounded shoulder 16 is provided which assures a relief space at the adjacent portions of the flange and active face of the element- 1 such as will receive the filings without interfering with the sharpening action at the extreme cutting edge of the blade.

By reason of the relation of the nut of the securing bolt 15 with the grooveway forming wall 5, as shown in Figure 3 of the drawing, danger of inadvertent loosening of the bolt is avoided.

By reference to Figure 4 of the drawing it will be observed that the sharpening spurs 2, all being directed at like angles and in the same direction, will serve to force the blade being sharpened and the guide flange 7 into tight engagement when the device is moved in the proper direction, see arrow on the said figure, thus assuring the uniform sharpening of the blade at the angle desired. Also, by forming the sharpening element square in cross section and adjustably mounting the same, and also by reason of exposing half or less than half of any given face thereof at a time, means is provided for presenting a fresh face of the element whenever desired.

The abrasive element is preferably a file though any other suitable element for the purpose may be employed.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, it is thought that the novel details of construction, the manner of use and the advantages of my invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art to which it relates. r 1 I \Vhat I claim is:

1. A sharpener of the character described comprising a holder formed of a spring metal blank to comprise a hand grip portion, and walls forming a cutting element receiving f grooveway, a cutting element in the element receiving grooveway, and means including a bolt and nut for securing the element in the grooveway, said nut being disposed relative- 1y to one of the walls which form the grooveway to prevent inadvertent loosening of the nut on said bolt.

2. A sharpener of the character described composed of a single piece of spring metal blank bent back upon itself to constitute a ransverse tubular hand grip portion, one side of the blank being bent outwardly, clownwardly and inwardly to constitute a cutting element receiving grooveway and provide between said grooveway and said hand grip portion a finger grip grooveway, the other end of said spring metal body terminating in alignmentwith said cutting element grooveway to retain a cutting element in said grooveway, a cutting element and a bolt and nut device for drawing the parts of said blank together to retain said cutting element in its grooveway for the purposes specified.

3. A sharpener of the character described composed of a single piece of spring metal blank bent back upon itself to constitute a transverse tubular hand grip portion, one side of the blank being bent outwardly, downwardly and inwardly to constitute a cutting element receiving grooveway and provide between said grooveway and said hand grip portion a finger grip grooveway, the other end of said spring metal body terminating in alignment with said cutting element grooveway to retain a cutting element in said grooveway, and a bolt and nut device for drawing the parts of said blank together to retain said cutting element in its grooveway, said cutting element receiving grooveway being of a depth to expose approximately one-half only of a cutting face of the cutting element,

and a cutting element located in said cutting element recelvmg grooveway for the purposes specified.

SAMUEL M. VVIXCEL. 

